The storage of materials in warehouses, commercial facilities and industrial plants constitutes a process that is ubiquitous and often inefficient.
The object of any storage scheme is to provide high-density storage within a facility and handling boxes and other storage materials with dispatch. It is common to find narrow aisles in warehouses to maximize the space that is devoted to storage frames and racks.
Recently, it has been found advantageous to convert pallet racks and other ordinary shelving to flow-through shelves, in order to provide for the gravity flow movement of materials to a far end of a storage tier.
The conversion of various tiers of a storage frame to a flow system is fraught with many installation problems and operative complications. The ultimate benefit, however, of flow rack storage has, throughout the industry, prompted a disregard for any drawbacks posed by conversion difficulties.
One popular current methodology involves the mounting of flimsy, poorly supportive rails that contain a series of plastic wheels or rollers. This is a commonly used system by dint of its low cost. The major problem encountered therewith, however, is the system's relatively short operative life. The plastic wheels or rollers cannot (by themselves, or even in combination) provide the support necessary for moderate and heavy loads. As a result of their poor structural support, such rails often cannot be fixtured in lengths greater than two or three feet and are commonly supported by a shelf or other closely-spaced support structure.
Lifetime guarantees are commercially offered as an incentive to overlook the inability of this type of system to provide good operability. Therefore, the economy of this system that is originally perceived is, in actuality, deceptive. This type of system frequently requires replacement, which more than counterbalances any initial savings.
Another drawback of such a system is that the rails often require the addition of extraneous support members about the frame, so as to provide the carrying capacity that they so clearly lack.
It is, therefore, surprising that this art, which features a myriad of systems and is such a pervasive part of commercial intercourse, has not, until this invention, produced an efficient flow rack system. It is obvious to all those skilled in this art that there has been a long-felt need to develop such a system.
The objectives required of a good flow rack system can be enumerated in order of importance, as follows:
1) The system must be inexpensive. PA1 2) It should require minimal assembly. PA1 3) The system should furnish the requisite structual support to carry heavy loads. PA1 4) It should have a long operative life. PA1 5) The system should have adjustability, so as to adapt to changing products and needs.
The current invention not only provides all of the necessary aforementioned requirements of a good flow rack system, but it also is actually equivalent to or lower in cost than the light-gauge members with plastic wheel-rail system.
The invention is universally adaptable to almost any frame or support structure.
The flow rack of this invention will support heavy loads without the need for adding extraneous bracing or intermediate support members to the frame or individual pallet racks.
The inventive flow rack system requires minimal assembly. Two retainer bars are fixtured to distal ends of a pallet rack or frame. This is the only structural assembly required. After the retainer members are in place, the flow-track member of the system is placed into the retainer bars, which are now part of the frame. The flow-track member can be placed upon the retainer members in any position along X and Y axes in the horizontal plane. This feature allows the flow-through span to provide overhang possibilities. The flow-track member is dropped into place anywhere along the retainer bars; it is snap-locked into place by means of a simple turn of a locking pin. This snap-lock assembly allows for easy installation and removal, as well as the instantaneous modification of the system at any time.
The present invention is so simple in its concept, but it has often been observed that major inventions often appear to be simpler in design than their counterparts. Such is believed to be the case of the current flow rack system.